to spare your life by saying so; I shall not kill you. Now go wherever you wish, lest you sow mischief among my followers.
Sarāqah thereupon made his way to Basra, to Muṣʿab ibn al-Zubayr, and kept reciting:
Go, carry a message to Abū Isḥāq (1) that I …
saw the dapple-greys turned solid jet-black;
I have renounced your so-called revelation and taken a vow
to fight you relentlessly until death.
My eyes (2) have seen what they never truly saw—
we both know it is sheer nonsense.
Whenever they speak, I answer, “You lie!”
and if they sally forth, I don my war-gear.
After this, al-Mukhtār addressed his own men, urging them in that sermon to pursue those inhabitants of Kūfa who had taken part in Ḥusayn’s killing. He said:
“It is no part of our religion to let a people (3) who slew Ḥusayn walk the earth alive and secure. What wretched supporters of the family of Muḥammad we would be! In that case I would indeed be the impostor you have called me. I seek Allah’s help against them. Praise be to Allah, who has made me a sword to strike them, a spear to pierce them, the avenger of their blood, and the upholder of their right. It is incumbent upon Allah to slay those who slew them and to humble whoever denied their due. So mark them out, then pursue them until you kill them. Food and drink will not sit well with me until I have cleansed the land of them and expelled every one of them from this garrison.”
He then set about tracking down everyone named to him who was still in Kūfa. They were brought before him and he ordered them executed in ways that matched their crimes: some were burned alive; some had their limbs cut off and were left to writhe until they died; others were shot with arrows until they expired. [They brought Mālik ibn Bishr (4). Al-Mukhtār asked, “Are you the man who pulled Ḥusayn’s hooded cloak from him?” He replied, “We set out against our will, so show us mercy.” Al-Mukhtār said, “Cut off his hands and his feet.” They did so and left him thrashing until he died. In the same way he had ʿAbd Allah ibn Asīd al-Juhanī and others put to death in the cruellest manner.] (5)
The killing of Khawli ibn Yazīd al-Aṣbaḥī, the man who severed Ḥusayn’s head
Al-Mukhtār dispatched Abū ʿAmrah, the commander of his guard, to seize him. They raided his house, and his wife came out. When they asked her where he was, she said, “I do not know,” yet with her hand she pointed to the spot where he was hiding—she had hated him ever since the night he brought Ḥusayn’s head home and had constantly reproached him for it. Her name was al-ʿAyūf (6) bint Mālik ibn Nahār ibn ʿAqrab al-Ḥaḍramī. They went in and found him with a basket (7) upturned on his head. They carried him to al-Mukhtār, who ordered that he be killed near his own house, and that—